Wen Xishu felt an urge to make a few snarky comments.
But in the end, he still didn’t say anything.
Here, there were just way, way too many Wen Xishus...
There was even a middle‑aged, chubby Wen Xishu with a double chin. There was even a "Jiahao" version of Wen Xishu.
At first, Wen Xishu thought that one might be a target worth paying attention to.
Because that Wen Xishu numbered 039 was dressed all in black, with a black hood and mask, only his eyes showing.
Very mysterious. Wen Xishu immediately wondered... could this Wen Xishu also be from an extremely dangerous world?
Then the guy covered one of his own eyes and said, "Amaterasu."
Wen Xishu’s five senses picked it up loud and clear. Even though that was an Otherworldly Me, he still had this vivid feeling as if he himself were doing that shameful act.
And it was precisely that feeling that made Wen Xishu realize something...
"I" seem to find it particularly easy to empathize with "me."
These "me’s" from parallel universes couldn’t be simply regarded as people from another world who just happen to have the same name and face. They seemed to genuinely possess a sort of shared "synesthesia."
Countless versions of me gathered in a huge plaza, making the place extremely lively.
The first game seemed to enjoy this kind of liveliness as well, and didn’t feel all that terrifying.
Soon, Wen Xishu’s own voice appeared in his mind.
[Welcome, us from all the different worlds. No need to be nervous. You can think of me as your future self. Of course, whose future I will end up being... that’s something we don’t know yet.]
[Next, all of you will need to play a few games together. The first game is very simple. This game will only eliminate twenty‑five people. Once the number of eliminated exceeds twenty‑five, or if the game lasts more than one hour... the game will end immediately. You will all return to the rest room for a short break and prepare for the second round.]
[Now I’ll announce the content of the first‑round game. This game is called the Death Interview.]
[There will be thirty interview positions in the hall. For each round of interviews, the job the interviewer is recruiting for will vary from person to person. Maybe in the first round that interviewer needs someone in finance, and in the second round they’re recruiting a zookeeper. What profession you’ll need to role‑play as an interviewee depends entirely on luck. The time for one round of interview is between three and ten minutes.]
[The interview itself is not the main point. Also, everything you’re about to do from here on out will be subject to the observer effect. Do not explicitly or implicitly hint anything to others. The moment you subjectively attempt to do so—even if your actions and the outcome are completely unrelated—you will be erased on the spot.]
[And, for the sake of fairness, all items will now be confiscated, and everyone’s Superpowers acquired through adventures in your own worlds will be sealed.]
[As for why this rule exists, that’s something for the clever "me’s" among you to figure out on your own. Lastly, one more note: if someone dies because of you, then you can advance early.]
[Game start. Please make sure to participate in at least one round of interviews.]
The countdown began.
Thirty interviewers wearing professional fake smiles, along with their interview desks, had already appeared at thirty random spots in this huge plaza.
They were all uniformly dressed in black suits, waiting for people to come to the interview stations.
No one moved.
All one hundred Wen Xishus were calmly observing.
Even No. 045, that chirpy, chatterbox happy little idiot—at this moment, his underlying code was triggered; he didn’t make any noise either. He wanted to stay alive and began seriously observing his surroundings.
Very quickly, from the way they looked at one another, all the Wen Xishus noticed something...
On the back of each Wen Xishu’s head floated a few words. Some people had three characters, some had two, some even had five, or even a whole sentence.
Wen Xishu immediately noticed that the Jiahao‑version Wen Xishu had three characters over his head—"Shoot Hoops."
Very strange.
He didn’t realize right away what he was supposed to do with that.
Soon, Wen Xishu looked toward his "roommate."
The No. 045 version of Wen Xishu had two characters floating behind his head—"Finger Heart."
The female Wen Xishu who drew the most attention also had two characters behind her head—"Sigh."
Wen Xishu subconsciously looked back over his shoulder and found that he couldn’t see anything.
He could be sure... this was something only other people could see.
The words behind one’s head would move as the person moved, always keeping a fixed distance from the back of their head; if you didn’t use something like a mirror, you simply couldn’t see it.
Wen Xishu really wanted to use the Scorpion Knife to look behind himself and see what words were hovering there.
But he discovered that he seemed unable to establish a link with the knife.
The Scorpion Knife’s function in this round was quite interesting; it was called Bug Feedback. Simply put, if you discovered a loophole in the game, you could choose to use the Scorpion Knife to report it to the GM.
The GM would fix the bug, but would also compensate you at the same time.
In other words, if you found a loophole, you could choose to exploit it to gain resources; if the loophole wasn’t worth much, you could instead report it to the administrator, have it fixed, and the administrator would give you an appropriate reward.
Wen Xishu quickly decided he was going to exploit a loophole.
"So items and skills are disabled, huh..."
"Then can I use my five senses to see the words above my own head reflected in the other person’s eyes?"
Wen Xishu decided to give it a try.
He looked at his roommate, the Blue Star No. 045 Wen Xishu.
The moment the two Wen Xishus made eye contact, the Blue Star Wen Xishu immediately understood what the Bunker Wen Xishu was trying to do.